October 21, 200521 yr Good little article in the S.S. today: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basebal...-sports-marlins BERARDINO: New job is child's play for Girardi Published October 21, 2005 MIAMI GARDENS ? Joe Girardi is good with kids. Of all the glowing attributes he brings to his first crack at managing -- Yankees pedigree, Northwestern education, champion's heart -- that could be the most important. I mean, he's really good with the little buggers. Patient. Understanding. Slow to anger. More than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. You should have seen him late Thursday morning at Dolphins Stadium. Meeting the media for the first time as Marlins manager, Girardi somehow spoke smoothly and convincingly while balancing two squirming, sleep-deprived children on his knees. As their father detailed his preference for aggressive play, downplayed his lack of experience, explained the relevance of his industrial engineering degree and paid tribute to an impressive group of mentors, the Girardi kids grew increasingly bored. Even while wearing the miniature No. 8 Marlins jerseys the team had outfitted for them. Even with mock contracts for them to sign. Six-year-old Serena, a budding gymnast, kept scrawling her full name and initials on the back of a letter-size doodle pad. "I know you're ready to go, Sissy," Girardi whispered to his daughter. "Daddy's almost finished." We call those "white lies." Serena later admitted an allegiance to the hometown Chicago Cubs before her mother, Kim, got her to switch to writing "I love the Marlins" on the pad. "They love the warm weather," Kim Girardi assured, "and the fish with the big head." Miguel Cabrera? "Billy," she said. Oh. Dante, who turns 4 in two weeks, grew painfully hungry by the end of the 90-minute session. Well, that and he got tired of listening to his father prattle on about video preparation, safety squeezes and the lessons learned growing up in blue-collar Peoria, Ill. "I know you want a hot dog, buddy," Girardi said, trying to soothe the boy. "Just another minute." Then came another barrage of questions for the fourth of five children born to Jerry and Angela Girardi. "Sometimes you wonder how they did it," Girardi said. "I'm exhausted from two." He smiled. "I guess they must start to run themselves after they get older," he said. The 2005 Marlins certainly tried. This extended metaphor is important because we can pretty much guess the Marlins will go young with Girardi's inaugural team. The first indication came when they failed to interview a single candidate with previous managerial experience. Further evidence came when Girardi, 41, again spoke Thursday of his three-man nucleus of Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. There was no mention of slugger Carlos Delgado, whose salary jumps from $4 million to $13.5 million next year. Where Delgado will be drawing that salary is anyone's guess. The strongest indicator yet came from Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. "Joe is going to lead this young club, this very young club, as we go forward," Loria said. Very young? "It's a young club," Loria said, trying to clarify. "It is a young club." OK, we get the picture. And it is bound to get younger this winter. These won't be the $200 million Yankees at Girardi's command. More likely they will be the $60 million (or less) Marlins. But that's fine by him. He's a teacher at heart. "The players have to be responsible and they have to want to win as badly as everybody else," he said, "but it's your job to teach them that." He knows "very, very little" Spanish but vows to learn soon. That would be a marked plus in a clubhouse that saw the Latin Quarter turn against crusty Jack McKeon last season. Like Ozzie Guillen with the World Series-bound White Sox, Girardi plans to roam the clubhouse. He will lift weights with his players. Talk with them. Break down the invisible barriers that can tear a team apart. "You've got to know what makes a player tick," he said. "We're all a little different. Everyone is different, but that's what makes our world such a great place." So is there such a thing as an unmanageable player? "I don't think so," he said, "because I don't think as a parent you would ever give up on a kid. Everyone wants to be loved and everyone wants to feel important and everyone wants to be a big part of something that's special." Doodle pads and hot dogs are good to have around, too, just in case.
October 21, 200521 yr :lol @ "Fish with the big head... Miguel Cabrera?" Also, it looks like the Latin dudes didn't like Jack very much.
October 21, 200521 yr South Florida sports writers are really starting to run out of good idea's for catchy titles.
October 21, 200521 yr There was no mention of slugger Carlos Delgado, whose salary jumps from $4 million to $13.5 million next year. Where Delgado will be drawing that salary is anyone's guess. The strongest indicator yet came from Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. "Joe is going to lead this young club, this very young club, as we go forward," Loria said. Very young? "It's a young club," Loria said, trying to clarify. "It is a young club." not liking this right now
October 21, 200521 yr There was no mention of slugger Carlos Delgado, whose salary jumps from $4 million to $13.5 million next year. Where Delgado will be drawing that salary is anyone's guess. The strongest indicator yet came from Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. "Joe is going to lead this young club, this very young club, as we go forward," Loria said. Very young? "It's a young club," Loria said, trying to clarify. "It is a young club." not liking this right now I'm not worried.
October 21, 200521 yr Author South Florida sports writers are really starting to run out of good idea's for catchy titles. Technically, the editors are the ones that come up with the titles, not the writers themselves.
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